Quick, what is the best-kept secret in the
entire accounting software industry? The answer is accounting software
selection tools. There are more than a half dozen tools designed to help
you select the right accounting software package. These tools contain
up-to-date profile information on some of the top products. Over the
years, I used these tools extensively to help me appear to be smarter
than I really am - (believe me, I need all the help I can get).
Armed with these tools, I can find answers to even the toughest product
questions in a matter of seconds.
Over the past 15 years I’ve
lectured to tens of thousands of businesses about selecting accounting
software, and by my informal count, less than 2% of these audiences even
know that these selection tools exist. That tells me that the people who
create these selection tools are pretty bad at marketing. Still, in most
cases their products and services are very good. A complete listing of
all of these tools (including pricing, addresses, and phone numbers) is
shown below.
The Accounting Library -
Most
Recommended
Charles Chewning, Richmond Virginia
To order call 800-272-4085
By far the
least expensive and most comprehensive program on the market is The
Accounting Library. This product can be purchased for $395, $995, or
$1,295 by calling 800-272-4085 or by
clicking here. The Accounting Library lists over 4,000 accounting
software features. Simply place a checkmark by each feature that your
company needs, and the Accounting Library will rank the top 150 products
according to the product that best meet your needs to the product that
least meets your needs. You can also print a "Missing Needs Report" that
will summarize the features you need that are missing from each product.
Based on your review of the features, you can easily eliminate obvious
poor solutions from further consideration. I highly recommend this
product to potential customers as well as resellers and consultants.
Learn more about the
Accounting Library:
The
Accounting Library Reports -
HIGHLY
Recommended
Accounting Software Reports
www.accountingsoftwareadvisor.com
The full
product reports produced by the Accounting Library are available from
the Accounting Software Advisor web site for prices ranging from $30 to
$80 each. Working with the author of the Accounting Library, Accounting
Software Advisor allows you to purchase specific product reports
profiling more than 4,000 features.
Click here to see a sample report. If at any time during the future
that you decide that you would like to purchase the full Accounting
Library product, then all of your previous payments are automatically
applied to your purchase price. The benefit of this web site is that it
allows you to gain instant access to the information in the report at
any time of the day or night, and it allows you to try out the
information for much lower costs. If you ultimately decide to purchase
the full Accounting Library product, you have lost nothing. In addition
we provide Executive level reports which provides a side-by-side
analysis of 350 features for 62 different products. These are the ASA
Power Reports and are available for Entry Level Products, Mid Range
Products, High End, and Tier 1 Products. Click here for a sample
Executive Level Report. This is yet another service that we have
developed to help you gain access to the relevant information you need.
We hope that you will take advantage of this service. To learn more,
visit this link:
www.accountingsoftwareadvisor.com.
The
Customer Relationship Management Software Selection Guide for The Mid
Market
By Lee Adler, Published by Sheldon Needle
Order this product from our
Web Store
This guide
provides a methodology for choosing an appropriate Customer Relationship
Management product, discusses the issues involved with CRM
implementations, details the features in CRM products and rates nine
products against 231 features for $129. The guide provides a detailed
list of essential aspects of CRM products and has selection guidelines
to help you find the right product. There are two tables included with
the guide, the Ratings Table which lists 231 features of the top 9 CRM
products on the market (see a
Sample Ratings Table), and a Technical Information Table which is
provided by the vendor to further explain the features on the Ratings
Table. A section entitled, "Best at the Table" which draws a conclusion
as to what products have been determined to be the best. Case studies
provide working examples of the products in action.
Learn more about the
Customer Relationship Management Software Selection Guide:
The
Requirements Analyst, CTS, Inc.
l3l Rollins Ave S-l Rockville, MD 20852 800-433-80l5
Website: ctsguides.com
Produced
by Sheldon Needle of Rockville, Maryland, another very good selection
tool is The Requirements Analyst, software to assess user needs
against leading mid-range packages, comes with a narrative critique of
how each vendor works (The Guide to Accounting Software for
Microcomputers). I have personally known the author of this product for
more than 10 years and I recommend this product to any accounting
software customers as well as consultants and resellers. CTS also
evaluates manufacturing, construction small business, and medical
practice software. The initial subscription is $295 and annual updates
are $l45.
Managing Automation
Software Guides
5 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10001, Ph: 1-800-647-1908, Fax:
1-212-629-1159
The MEA
Comparison Guide covers over 70 application areas, including ERP,
business planning, supply chain, plant floor automation software (MES,
SCADA, HMI, Quality, etc.) and computerized maintenance management
systems (CMMS). The 1999 product sold for $510, but the product was made
available for free over the web and can be viewed at this URL:
http://www.managingautomation.com/sitemap.htm
FastSelect from Expert Buying
Systems
P.O. Box 370819, Las Vegas, NV 89137, (800) 832-6434
This tool
covers 4 or 5 ERP based systems. A representative from the company asked
us not to disclose their pricing.
Software Compare,
Practitioners Publishing Company
Fort Worth, Texas, (800) 323-8724
PPC no
longer sells this product.
Accounting Software Advisor
Norcross, Georgia, (770) 734-0950
www.accountingsoftwareadvisor.com
This web
site contains the most comprehensive and update reviews of the top
accounting software products available today. Best of all, its free.
More than two dozen of the top accounting software consultants in the
country have banded together to help provide the relevant and accurate
information you are looking for. Included in this web site are expert
opinions with a persons name and face associate with each opinion so you
will know where the information is coming from. The site also discloses
conflicts of interest to you so that you will be aware of these
conflicts. If you are looking for a good place to get started, there is
no better resource in the world.
- END -
